SXSW

H2BWOOD

The mysterious prequel in the Genesis series provides a new outlook on the zombie franchise.


Set at a large wedding in the Spanish countryside, the movie nods to the saga's camcorder-POV origins by spending its first quarter bouncing between footage shot by a professional wedding videographer and assorted family members. Only when the first eruption of violence leads to the destruction of the pro's camera, at the 22-minute mark, does director Paco Plaza offer the film's title card and switch to conventional cinematography



 Whatever the implications of the subtitle "Genesis," the script does nothing to explain how the saga's odd zombie/demon mashup works, or even how it began. This movie's outbreak starts with an uncle's dog-bite wound, but before the man transforms we spy unexplained hazmat-attired workers on the horizon -- something biological is at play here, but we never learn what.

Gobbledygook premise aside, the pic hits a rollicking zombie-attack stride by the half-hour mark. If the violence itself is fairly ordinary zombie carnage (these flesh-eaters are mostly of the slow variety, if you're wondering), attempts to escape the compound have an added search-and-rescue urgency since the lovely bride and groom were separated at the melee's start!!!!!!!